Belknap County complex roof could be paid for with surplus

By ROGER AMSDEN, LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — The roof over the Belmont County Nursing Home shows signs of serious deterioration and county officials are counting on using surplus funds from the $8 million bond issue, used to build a community corrections center and renovate parts of the old county jail, to fix the roof.

Dustin Muzzey, head of maintenance for the county, said there are three leaks in the roof, which was installed in 2004, and that the only one which appears related to the asphalt shingle deterioration is one in a nurses' station on one of the wings. The other two leaks appear to be due to problems with the flashing around skylights.

He said the county has had an estimate of $541,000 for the cost of re-shingling the entire 97,000-square-foot roof over the county complex, but the final cost should be slightly lower because that estimate included work on part of the old county jail roof which is being accomplished with bond issue funds.

Plans call for using architectural asphalt shingles, the same as used at the Community Corrections building, according to Muzzey. He said that the cost of a steel roof, which would be built over the existing roof, was nearly double that of the shingled roof.

He said that shortly after he assumed his position with the county in 2011 he was asked to see if the county could recover costs from the contractor who had installed the roof as it was evident that there was a problem. In 2012 the county received a $16,850 settlement of its claim, which Muzzey said amounted to pennies on the dollar.

Belknap County Commission Chairman Dave DeVoy (R-Sanbornton) said that he is confident that the corrections center project will come in about $500,000 under budget and that he will be able to convince the Belknap County Delegation to repurpose the surplus bond funds to use them to replace the roof of the Belknap County Complex.

“That's a high priority project for the county. We can't work on the roof if it snows and I'm hoping that we can do the work before winter weather arrives,” said DeVoy.

He said that timing is everything for the roofing project, which he hopes can start in November using the same company which has worked on the roof for the Community Corrections Center.

Before the work can begin the county will need an assurance from Bauen Construction of Meredith, construction manager for the project, that the project is complete and a surplus will be available.

DeVoy said that work is currently expected to wrap up on the jail project in late October.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the size of the roof.

The shingles on the roof of the Belknap County Home show signs of deterioration and at least one leak through the ceiling at a nurses station is believed to be caused by the crumbling shingles. (Roger Amsden/Laconia Daily Sun)